Freedom? Equality? Not for Muslims.

FRANCE has declared the full Islamic face veil an affront to French values - presumably it is against the values of liberté, égalité and fraternité.

Sorry, but where is the equality, the égalité, in targeting a tiny group of Muslim women? Where is their liberty in not being able to choose what they want to wear? France pretends it is a bastion of equality. This shows it is anything but. To show it is not targeting poor Muslim women on sink estates, France exclaims it will also pick on the super-rich Muslim women who flock to designer shops. Oh, good. So not prejudiced against poor Muslims, just ALL Muslims. That makes me feel better.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the burka. No one in my family has worn one and I associate it with the women in villages back home who want to escape the prying eyes of lustful men. But that's back home. I agree that when I see women on the streets in Bradford in full black, flowing gowns I am taken aback. I believe it probably doesn't even have Islamic roots but was worn in the desert to keep the sand out of people's eyes. I can see why mainstream Brits find them offensive but, to be honest, I feel equally uncomfortable when I see people bearing neck-to-ankle tattoos or body piercings. Or people who do the unthinkable... and wear socks with sandals. Those who wear the burka don't criticise me for wearing mismatched clothes, and I don't criticise them for their interpretation of Islam.

Of course, if there is a security issue, then that comes first. Veiled women understand that and are happy to show their faces when they need to. I just think constant appraisal of Islamic dress exacerbated the problem. No one really cared before about what Muslim women wore but suddenly it became a big issue. The more it became an issue, the more women decided to wear it. And where it is banned, what are you going to do? Physically rip it off women as they walk down the street? Doesn't sound very civilised. Some women truly and honestly believe they are obeying God by covering their faces. They aren't going to listen to anyone else. And the more we make a song and dance about it, the more women will want to don the burka to show solidarity with their oppressed sisters.

Of course, they could always move to Japan. On a recent trip there I was struck by how many people - women and men - wore the face veil. Except it was white and they called it a "pollution mask". France has made its position clear - liberté, égalite, fraternité... so long as you're not Muslim.

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On 5 March 2018, the King’s College Libertarian Society attempted to host an event featuring Israeli speaker Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute and controversial YouTube vlogger ‘Sargon of Akkad’ (Carl Benjamin). Both speakers were due to talk about freedom of expression as well as ‘objectivism’, the libertarian philosophy created by Russian-American author Ayn Rand. The protest group set up on Facebook called for the speakers to be no-platformed and described them as ‘white supremacists’, ‘neo-fascists’, ‘nazis’ and ‘alt-right’. Off-campus groups, including black-clad activists from the hardline “left-wing, anti-fascist” street movement Antifa, were also present. Unlike the student societies, Antifa violently shut down the event and forced it to be cancelled. The organisers of the event faced other institutional obstacles. The appalling scenes at KCL last night are evidence of an encroaching culture of intolerance and hostility towards free speech on university campuses in Britain.

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In the lead up to Holocaust Memorial Day 2018, the UK government has announced that it will partner with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) and the Holocaust Education Trust (HET) in sending 200 university students from across the UK to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the former Nazi extermination camp in Poland. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Education have pledged to devote £144,000 to the project. They aim to train participants so that they can educate fellow students about anti-Semitism when they return to UK campuses. Student Rights is extremely supportive of the government’s decision to support students in this way. We hope it has a tangible impact at all levels of student life across the UK.